Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 17, 1990 TAG: 9007170122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CABANATUAN CITY, PHILIPPINES LENGTH: Medium
She was among hundreds of students and teachers inside the Christian College of the Philippines when an earthquake struck about 4:30 p.m. Monday, toppling the six-story building in this city of 80,000 residents. The school included first grade through the senior year of college.
The quake measured 7.7 on the Richter scale and was centered near Cabanatuan City, 60 miles north of Manila. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the Philippines in 14 years, and seismological officials said Cabanatuan had not had a major quake since 1645.
By sunrise today , 18 bodies had been pulled from the rubble and more than 100 people had been rescued. But officials admitted they had no idea how many were in the building when it collapsed.
Rescue efforts were undertaken largely by townspeople who flocked to the site and volunteered their services. There was little sign of experienced supervision.
Hospitals overflowed with victims. Patients were placed on cots in yards in front of clinics.
Lt. Benbol Moralde, part of an army contingent sent from nearby Fort Magsaysay, said he believed few remained alive beneath the debris.
Moralde said victims' cries grew fainter and fainter and that he could see bodies and parts of bodies when he surveyed the destruction.
Hours after the temblor, hundreds of family members and friends watched and prayed as rescuers dug through the rubble.
Each time someone was brought out alive, relatives crowded around the survivor, begging for news of those still missing.
"They told me she's still alive," said Rosa de los Reyes, who was waiting word of her daughter, Maria Lisa, 14. "I'm very happy, but if it turns out she has died, I think I'm going to die, too."
Throughout the night, boys as young as 7 scrambled between slabs of concrete carrying water to victims still trapped. Sixteen-year-old Florencio Alano crawled through the wreckage looking for his 13-year-old brother, Cesario - only to find out he was dead.
Florencio, who eventually led three survivors to safety, said: "At first I couldn't believe that he was already dead. So I crawled through the passageway. I saw his face and felt him. What else can one feel but just accept it?"
Rescuers could hear the anguished screams during the night of those buried under tons of debris. Most begged for water. One girl shrieked for rescuers to "cut off my legs" to free her.
Gabwat, a high school sophomore, said her class had just finished a math examination when the quake struck.
"We were kidding each other; we were saying the test was so easy," Gabwat said as she rode in an ambulance to the provincial hospital. "Then suddenly, the walls trembled, the ceiling collapsed and there was total darkness. We embraced each other. We were very scared."
She said survivors groped for one another in the darkened rubble and prayed aloud.
"We were calling out our classmates' names but they did not respond anymore," she said. "Then we groped for their hands but felt that they were cold. Each time, we wept.
"We were scared and some were screaming. But then later on, they said they wanted to sleep already and rest. Then there was silence."
Cenando Memping, whose 14th birthday was Monday, said he had just invited his three best friends to join him after class at a restaurant when the quake hit.
Cenando and his friends were trapped beneath tons of rubble. He said there were 54 students in his class. More than 10 hours after the quake, he was the only one of them who had been rescued.
"I prayed to God that if I survive, I'll hear Mass every day," he said from his hospital bed. He said his friend Michael Nuevo joked that he would never go to a "high" school again.
Moments later, Michael died, Cenando said.
"We were kidding each other, comforting each other," Cenando said softly. "Then suddenly he stopped breathing. He said, `Praise the Lord. Our Father, Our Father, Our Father.' Then he was silent."
by CNB